The Hemo2Homo Connection is Shawn Decker and Steve Schalchlin. Just two guys with AIDS who like to review movies. 

The creators/stars of the Hemo2Homo Connection met online in 1996, and posted their first movie review in 1998. Both have been living with HIV for over twenty years, and have annoyed their friends and loved ones for much longer than that. 


Steve Schalchlin (“Homo”) resides in Los Angeles, CA. He is an award-winning musician, singer and songwriter. Shawn Decker (“Hemo”) lives in Charlottesville, VA. He is an HIV/AIDS educator and the author of My Pet Virus.


The STAR TREK Review

HEMO:  Seen any good movies recently, Hemo?

HEMO2031: Why yes, I have.  Star Trek.  Did you see it as well, Hemo?

HEMO:  I did.  And, overall, I enjoyed this film.  Star Trek is the best Space AIDS movie since Starship Troopers.

HOMO:  Shawn, who the hell are you talking to?

HEMO:  I’ll tell you- in the future.  For now, just know that I’m tired of being the young, wide-eyed half of this movie duo.  You and I have been working together for 10 years now, and you always get to play the part of “Wise Sage Steve”, or “Mr. Movies” as they call you on the streets of Hollywood...

HOMO: No one has ever called me that.

HEMO:  Not my point.  My point is- I’ve survived over twenty years with HIV.  But no matter how much older I get, you age at the same rate!

HOMO:  Did you learn that heady stuff from Star Trek?  What the hell is HEMO2031? 

HEMO:  It’s me, 22 years from now.  That makes HEMO2031 your current age- 55.  He/me is your equal. And I brought him back from the year 2031 to review Star Trek with me.

HOMO: This will be fun to watch.

HEMO2031:  Nice to meet you, Steve.

HEMO:  I call him “Homo”.

HEMO2031: In the year 2031 calling a gay man “Homo” is a crime that is punishable by death.  If you don’t mind, I’ll call Steve “Steve”.

HOMO: He doesn’t mean anything by it, Hemo2031.  I call him “Hemo.” Is that okay?

HEMO2031: Sure- but no one will know what you’re talking about in the year 2031, because hemophilia will be cured by then.

HOMO: Ha!  Hear that, Hemo?  Your kind will be extinct, and my kind will rule the Earth! 

HEMO: This isn’t going how I planned.  Look, this is all fascinating stuff about the future, really, but can we get back to Star Trek?

HOMO: Did you see the coming attractions?  Previews are starting to feel longer than twenty-two years.  This time, there was a long live-action version of that puppet film, Team America, complete with a fake Eiffel Tower being destroyed by some guys dressed like Iron Man who fight some multi-colored robots from outer space who are also attacking the Vatican.

It was called G.I. Transforminator.

HEMO: The G.I. Joe guys in those suits look like the NFL robots. 

HOMO: Hey, Hemo2031, if you’re from the future, then you’ve already seen this flick.  Any good?

HEMO2031: It will be deemed a classic of all time and they’ll pass a law that all movies must be sequels to G.I. Transforminator. 

HOMO: With nothing but robots as characters?  That will be the end of the AIDS movie as we know them.  Will there be a Hemo2Homo Connection in 2031?  My God- I’ll be 77.  Will I be... alive?

HEMO2031: Yes, and yes.  But the Hemo2Homo Connection will only review Michael Bay directed G.I. Transforminator movies from the year 2012 on, when President Jeb Bush signs into Michael Bay Act into law.

HOMO: That sounds like a fate far worse than death to me.

HEMO: ... so no more movies about AIDS?  We should really cherish Star Trek. 

HOMO:  You really see this as an AIDS movie?  I thought you’d see it as a horror movie!  It started right at the beginning with Kirk  sitting at a table with Kleenex stuffed up his bloody nose.   Then came Kid Spock kicking some other Vulcan kid’s ass... just like they used to beat you up in school just to watch you bleed!  Fortunately, Spock’s blood is green and not all AIDS-y like yours.

HEMO:  I was too distracted by the green-skinned bimbo to notice the green blood.  It wasn’t until Spock’s planet was destroyed that it all clicked for me.  “There’s only 10,000 Vulcans remaining,” Spock said.  An obvious reference to the 1980’s blood scandal and The Committee of Ten Thousand.

HOMO:  So this isn’t just an AIDS movie?  It’s a thinblooded AIDS movie?  Geesh.  Hey,  I wonder if they have Vulcan blood clogger-upper or if AIDS can be transmitted into copper-based blood?  HEMO2031, any answers?

HEMO:  I have a confession to make: I made up the HEMO2031 thing.

HOMO2031:  Past me forgives you.

HEMO2031:  Past me accepts.

HEMO: I can’t imagine how cranky you’ll be about movies at age 77, Homo.  So what did you like most about Star Trek?

HOMO:  I loved how the other characters on the bridge who channeled the spirit of the originals--and not just like extras. Each of them showing motivation, strength, innocence and fortitude.  Not as much as us, and our ability to survive with AIDS.  But close.

HEMO:  The cast is great.  My only beef with Star Trek was the CGI snow creatures scene, and the hanging on by the fingernails scenes.  I hate those kinds of things in any movie, especially in one where you care about the characters.  I’d rather have seen young Spock having a private conversation with his lady than watch Kirk narrowly cheat death.  Again.

HOMO:  Yeah, note to directors out there: The word “cliffhanger” is a metaphor.  Still, you gotta give it up for a Hollywood movie with actual characters. They must have hired a gay.  It’s the only explanation. 

HEMO:  It’s the only explanation for not seeing Green Alien Bimbo’s ta-tas.

HOMO:  Kirk did look good in his undies in that scene. Maybe his not-so-light saber and her green boobs will be in the extras on the DVD?  But Star Trek was just like the Hemo2Homo Connection... it was funny!  This movie made me laugh out loud again and again. It felt like the real Star Trek, not like that tired Wolverine farce.

As for the rest of the summer, I’m already tired of G.I. Transforminator.

HEMO2031:  Just wait until the year 2017, when you’re reviewing G.I. Transforminator 29: Rise Again of the Machines Again. 

HOMO:  Please, AIDS, take me now?